By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow bounced back to wins after three straight EuroLeague losses by beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 74 – 73 at home. This was the first defeat for the Yellows after five consecutive victories.
Iffe Lundberg scored eight out of his team-high 14 points in the last five minutes while playing superb defense on Scottie Wilbekin in the last possession of the game to stall Maccabi‘s offense. Derrick Williams, the game’s leading scorer with 20 points (a season-high), missed in a tough game-winning attempt under the basket and CSKA got the win.
“We came in prepared to fight for 40 minutes and that’s exactly what we did tonight,” Lundberg said. “And I’m just really really proud of the way that we stuck together throughout the game. Coach told us to keep fighting and trust each other, especially on defense. Ultimately we came out with the win and we’re really happy with the result.”
Neither team led by more than five points in a very tight and intense game, particularly down the stretch. Maccabi held a small yet steady advantage in most of the second half until consecutive 3-pointers put CSKA up 64 – 61 early in the fourth period. Lundberg scored for the 74 – 70 and then a basket by Wilbekin and a free throw by Williams brought Maccabi close by one.
With 12 seconds to play and after a foul on Will Clyburn, Maccabi found an extra possession with Keenan Evans defending the inbounds pass to force the turnover. CSKA defended well enough to prevent its opponents from scoring a game-winner.
Joel Bolomboy had 12 points for CSKA while Marius Grigonis scored 10 in 16 minutes of his EuroLeague return to action after the opener vs. Milano on September 30.
Ante Zizic contributed 16 points for a second straight game while also having six rebounds for Maccabi.
“In the locker room, I congratulated our players for how they fought tonight,” Maccabi coach Giannis Sfairopoulos said. “It was a very close game from the first moment to the last. We are unhappy that we had the last shot but could not win the game. But this happens in basketball. The fact that we didn’t win the game does not cancel the big fight that our team gave. In the second half and mainly in the last quarter, CSKA scored a lot of tough shots at the buzzer. This is how they were up in the score. In the end, we tried to come back but the more lucky team won in the end. Both teams deserved to win this game.”
A hard-earned win
After three losses in EuroLeague and two in VTB, CSKA was close to dropping a fourth consecutive EL game, which would’ve been a club record. But Dimitris Itoudis’ players had had enough.
“Congratulations to my team,” Itoudis said. “We witnessed a very close game. I don’t remember how many lead changes and ties there were. Both teams showed a tremendous desire at both ends. We managed to open up some small margins – 4 or 5 points – but Maccabi came back with some difficult shots or well-organized offenses or transition game. It helped us a lot to win the rebound battle and to have 11 offensive boards, which gave us extra possessions and some of them we punished them and scored. This was huge. In these close games, you need those extra possessions to give you an extra play and score or draw a foul. We stayed together as a team in the difficult moments and we will stay together because the adversity continues. We embraced all the adversities and we’re going to fight all the obstacles as a team. This is what I like about our team and our players. You can see the fire: everybody stepped up. Even though we were not that brilliant offensively, the fact that Grigonis came and gave us 16 quality minutes, I didn’t expect that he would play that much. I thought 10 minutes would be enough for him but he was an X-factor at both ends, creating and scoring.”
Itoudis also commented on why Nikola Milutinov was out after recovering from his injury and joining the team in the VTB League game vs. Unics Kazan Sunday (7/11).
“Unfortunately, we found out in the morning of the game that Niko [Milutinov] could not participate in the game,” Itoudis said. “I am smiling because I said we are going to embrace the adversities. Some things you cannot predict. Niko was practicing with us two days straight and he felt great. He played 10 minutes in the UNICS game. All of a sudden he had a problem. But the important thing is who played and the fact that Semen [Antonov] and Kenneth [Faried] came up big and Will [Clyburn] at the ‘4’ and involving the guards was very important for the rebounds and the defensive effort against their bigs.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball